Letter of Encouragement by Karli B.

Hey friends! Can y’all believe this semester is almost over?! As we are all aware, this past year has been a lot. A lot of change, unknown, and isolation. Though this world seems to be crumbling around us and as lost as ever, the Lord has been ever-present and we are called as children of God to be the light in this dark world pointing the lost to Christ. This semester, the Lord has been teaching me so many things through sermons at my home church (Crossroads Baptist Church in Social Circle), my Bible reading plan with The Bible Recap, and through the Bible study I have had the privilege of leading over the women in the lineage of Christ.

To start this blog off, I want to begin with sharing a few points that were shared at my home church discussing our “2021 Vision”, and I believe should be the vision of all Christ followers. This idea of being a disciple will serve as a “part 1” to the blog, but I want to end it out by discussing the importance of rest as “part 2” because I believe as college students so often we experience this thing known as “burn out” and feel pressured to feel as if we don’t have time or deserve to rest until we “perfected” our work. To this I want to say that we don’t “earn” rest, we are gifted and in fact commanded to rest by the Lord and that when we are waiting to “perfect” our work before resting that this actually will never happen and we will never get to truly rest. God doesn’t call for perfection, He calls for our hearts.

Part 1: Disciple

In the Bible we see this word “Disciple” used hundreds of times in the Gospels, but do we truly know what it means to be a Disciple or even that Jesus calls us to be disciples? To answer the first question, a disciple is a person who is saved by faith in Jesus, surrendered to being changed by Jesus, and sold out to the mission of Jesus. We see this calling over our lives from Jesus Himself in Matthew 5:14-16.

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” - Matthew 5:14-16

Saved by faith in Jesus

Surrendered to being changed by Jesus

Sold out to the mission of Jesus

We as Christians are to shine a light for Christ through our lives so that those who are lost would see Jesus through us and glorify Him.

So what is this “vision” that I believe we should all adopt?

1. Losing your life for Jesus and His Gospel

   1. “And He [Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “if anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” - Mark 8:31-38

2. To see people going, making disciples, baptizing, and teaching the Lord’s commands until He comes.

   1. “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” - 2 Timothy 2:1-2

3. Conformed to the image of God

   1. As a disciple of Christ, we are called to be like Him, and what better way to be like Christ than by imitating Him?

   2. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” - Ephesians 5:1-2

4. See people loving Jesus

5. See people loving each other

I hope these points can serve to help direct you in living out your call to be a disciple and helping to equip other disciples. I pray that we would all be fed up with ourselves and our sin, desiring nothing more than to be more like Christ and sharing Him with those around us to see others come to know Him!

Don’t forget to rest

It’s been a long semester and as much fun as it can be to “go go go”, it’s important to remember to rest. I want to first tell you that you don’t need to earn rest because God has so graciously gifted it to you and in fact commands rest. I believe that rest is so important not only because God says it is, but because I’ve seen it in my life how impactful healthy rest can be. To identify healthy rest, we are going to look at scripture because what better way to learn how to rest than from God Himself?!

• Seventh Day of Creation

  • “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” - Genesis 2:1-3

  • God is all powerful and didn’t need to rest, but He did to show us the importance of rest (and probably to just watch His creation because ain’t it beautiful?)

• Rest = Faith

  • “It came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and My instructions? See, the Lord has given you the sabbath; therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” So the people rested on the seventh day.” - Exodus 16:27-30

  • God commands His people to rest and trust Him to provide

  • Jesus’ work on the cross paid everything!!! We could never work enough or be good enough to pay off our debt we owe Him.

So, as we are all preparing to take our finals and packing up to head home for the summer, I pray that this message will make you feel equipped and encouraged, and that you will never forget how much Jesus loves you! Remember your vision and remember to rest!